“Get your hustle on!” 5 real benefits (and 3 manageable drawbacks) of having a side hustle.

Before doing anything, I need to clarify that this is not an article pushing any kind of passive income scam. I’m not selling a training package or get-rich-quick scheme. This is about sharing some of the beneficial and painful experiences of having something that (ideally) brings in some income that is in addition to a traditional job.

I didn’t set out to have a side hustle. What happened was that I had a hobby (painting) that organically and gradually developed into something that is becoming at least semi-professional. While it’s not a business, there are certainly some things I’ve had to deal with that are business-like, and mean I’ve got something to share that could be useful for others who are on a similar journey.

The accelerant for this was my watch-dial painting project ‘Resurfaced’, because the activities surrounding painting on a watch dial includes exposure to the watch industry which is a little different to painting on canvas.

5 Benefits of Having a Side Hustle

1. It Builds Skills You Won’t Get at Your Day Job

Assuming you don’t have a side hustle that is identical to your day job, the likelihood is that you’ll be having to do things that you just don’t get to in your day job. In my case, this has meant I’ve been experiencing marketing, web design, customer service, supply chain etc. It’s very difficult to get this kind of breadth in most corporate roles (because there are already experts who are doing those things). It’s a great education experience and a crash course in entrepreneurship. Many of these skills and experiences can make you better in your full time role too.

Personal example:

I’ve done more public speaking through my side hustle than my main role, which is helping me improve my confidence doing speeches, while I’ve also had to learn the basics of after sales which makes me understand my core job far better.

2. It Lets You Experiment Without the Pressure

Some people jump into entrepreneurship with both feet; backing themselves to be successful and with the resilience to rebound from failures. I never had the courage or the idea to do that 100%. Being able to test the water in a side hustle is a relatively safe environment, so you can test, fail safely and pivot without risking your mortgage and relationships.

Personal example:

I had the chance to hold a pop-up store in a mall for a month which gave me a retail experience without needing to risk everything in setting up a physical presence. I made no money, a loss actually, but it was worth it for the learning and exposure and I didn’t depend on it so I felt more willing to try stuff.

3. It Grows Your Network in Unexpected Ways

Your side hustle introduces you to communities you’d never encounter in your main job. New collaborators, mentors, and even friends often come from these unexpected connections.

Personal example:

I have found myself interacting with a large number of creatives and people in different industries, with a wide variety of talents and perspectives; which augments the professional connections from the day job. I love having completely fresh topics to discuss. I’ve found it gives me a much broader collection of discussion topics too, beyond work, politics and football formations.

4. It Can Be Deeply Fulfilling

Even if you enjoy your day job, a side hustle often taps into parts of your identity that don’t get much airtime at work. You can pick up whatever responsibilities you want, and you are exploring different social structures which help add dimensions to your life experience. Best of all, you get to see something out in the world that is truly yours.

Personal example:

It’s given me a chance to experience people walking into a store and picking up, examining and discussing things that I’ve made. That also helps you get some of the nerves out of your system by letting the market give you brutal but impersonal feedback and then you can build up the resilience and decide how to deal with those gifts of feedback.

5. It Opens Up New Paths (Even If You Don’t Take Them)

Whether it becomes your full-time gig or not, having a side hustle expands your vision of what’s possible. You may end up turning it into a business—or just realizing you’re capable of more than you thought.

Personal example:

I’ve had a chance to get visibility into multiple different industries that are different to my original, meeting with entrepreneurs, small businesses, large business, customers or collaborators. These aren’t normally “quit your day job” opportunities but they are ways to add strings to your bow, and develop either your side hustle or your main hustle.

3 Drawbacks (and How to Deal With Them)

1. It Can Burn You Out

Balancing a side hustle with a full-time job and a personal life can be exhausting. Especially if you have high demand, or complex projects.

How to help: Build in rest. Set clear “work hours” for your side project and give yourself permission to pause when needed. It’s not a sprint—it’s a long game and you shouldn’t lose sight of the reasons why you enjoy doing it in the first place!

Personal experience:

Often at the end of a long day the last thing you want to deal with is more issues, but often the reality is I have to do this at night. It can be hard to balance creativity, marketing, after sales and working on the next project. But it’s important to find the best way to achieve that balance.

2. It Can Create Conflict With Your Main Job

Especially if boundaries get blurry or your employer sees it as a distraction (actual or perceived).

How to deal: Be transparent (where appropriate), respect your employment contract, and make sure your side hustle doesn’t overlap with your company’s core business. Your company will probably have a conflicts of interest policy to protect both you and it. Keeping boundaries is also important so that you don’t end up blurring the two.

Personal example:

This is a tricky one. My main-hustle employers have been great with me and support me as much as they can reasonably expected to. You need to manage the physical overlap as well as the mental overlap. Of course there’s a good chance your skills and knowledge in one support the other so I do try and be as active as possible in drawing a boundary, but I do keep a look out for ways to repay the faith and trust of my employer. Ideally by becoming extremely wealthy and buying a load of their products.

3. It Can Get Lonely

Working solo means you don’t always have someone to bounce ideas off—or to celebrate wins with.

How to deal: Find a community. Whether it’s an online group, a co-working space, or just a friend who gets it, having someone to share the journey with makes a huge difference.

Personal example:

I have joined several community organisations that give me a deluge of opportunities to network, listen, share and get new ideas, side and main hustle. This is, in itself, a good thing to do for personal development but it does help meeting people who are kindred spirits or going through the same thing.

Final Thoughts for you:

A side hustle isn’t just a money-making venture—it’s a learning lab, a creative outlet, and often, a path to greater autonomy. But like any good thing, it needs intention and boundaries to make it sustainable. Some of the biggest companies in the world were started as side hustles, but those are absolute outliers and it’s very unlikely you’ll strike oil (though of course I I hope you do!). More likely is that there will be a series of benefits and experiences that will make you happier, rounded and more broadly skilled and help whatever else you want to accomplish in life.

Final Thoughts for an employer:

There are several ways to see a side hustle; maybe your employees are disengaged, maybe they’ve got hidden talents, or potential, maybe they’re trying to start a new career.

Whatever it is, avoid jumping to conclusions. You might just find your employees are effectively training themselves to be business leaders or entrepreneurs which means if you handle it right, you could harness that. They will likely want to repay any good faith you have shown them. Also you may find a bunch of skills in your organisation that you never knew you had. It coukd also be something that you could encourage in talent development programmes, The Apprentice style to build practical experience within your teams.

If you’re thinking about starting one—or already juggling a few hats- or you are a manager who is trying to generate entrepreneurial skills—I’d love to hear your experiences. What’s worked for you? What’s been the hardest part? What have you learnt?